Pre-history: Rutgers created a postgraduate study program in 1870, in order to award a certificate to people who took an extra undergraduate course after graduation. Graduate courses formally appeared in 1876. While taking such courses, graduate students were often appointed as a "Tutor in Mathematics"; this was the forerunner of the modern Teaching Assistant. About 10 people received a Masters degree in Mathematics during the era 1870-1906. When the Mathematics department was formally organized in 1906, it stopped admitting graduate students.

The first MSc degrees in Mathematics were awarded to James Barton (BSc 1871; Tutor 1873-74; MSc 1874) and Albert S. Cook (BSc 1872; Tutor 1872-73; MSc 1875). Other masters degrees were awarded to men who went on to become professors at Rutgers: Alfred Titsworth (MSc 1880); Robert Prentiss (MSc 1881); William Breazeale (MSc 1895); and Richard Morris (MSc 1902). The Mathematics Department had other graduate students of this type in the 1890's including: DeWitt, Scattergood (MSc 1997), VanDyck Jr. (AM 1899).

In 1929, a new Masters degree in Mathematics was created, requiring 8 courses and a written thesis. The first such degree was awarded in 1930 to Charles Eason. The first woman to receive a M.Sc. degree in Math was Eveline Stevens in 1934 (NJC '32). Professors Brasefield and Starke were the advisors for most of these students; their Masters theses may be inspected in Rutgers' Math Library. There were 9 MSc degrees granted during the 1930's, and 50 MSc degrees granted during 1940-1959.

The modern era: Although the Rutgers doctoral program was created in 1882, and the first PhD awarded in 1884, a doctoral program in mathematics was not organized at Rutgers until 1947. The first Ph.D. in Mathematics at Rutgers was awarded in 1951, to George Cherlin (Rutgers College '47, MSc '49). A total of 7 Ph.D.s were awarded before 1961, when the modern era began at Rutgers. Under Ken Wolfson (chair 1961-1975) the graduate program in mathematics gradually built up to a steady graduation rate of 13 doctorates per year in the mid-1970's. It later shrank in the 1980's and then expanded again in the 1990's, reaching a high of 19 doctorates in 1995. With the economic downturn in the mid-1990's, fewer students were accepted into the program, with the delayed effect that the number of doctorates has shrunk since 2000.